MONTOGMERY—Alabama State University went through a workout today at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome in preparations for an important Southwestern Athletic Conference match-up with Southern University, Monday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
 
The Hornets (10-15/7-6 SWAC) enter the game only 2.5 games behind Southern (14-13/10-4 SWAC) who is currently in second place in the conference.
 
The Jaguars come into Montgomery as arguably the second hottest team in the conference.  They have won nine of their last 12 games and that includes Saturday's 72-65 win at Alabama A&M University.
 
Southern won the first meeting between these two teams this season.  On Jan. 23^rd, Southern got 17 points from both Derek Beltran and Quinton Doggett in a 68-56 Jags win.  ASU was down 33-27 at halftime and never got any closer, falling behind by as many as 18 points in the second half.
 
ASU is looking to build on its modest two-game winning streak, including Saturday's 78-63 win over Alcorn State.  In the game, Philip Crawford set a career-high with 27 points and Ryan Watts came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points, all of which came in the second half.
 
“As we enter this stretch run here it is important that we continue to play well,” head coach Lewis Jackson said.  “It is winding down and we are playing these last six games in 13 days and everybody has to make sure they can give us something.  We don't need these guys coming off the bench to get wide eyed on us they need to play well for us.”
 
Crawford leads the Hornets in scoring averaging 11.4 per game.  Tramaine Butler is right behind at 11.1 and Ivory White continues to average 10 points per game.  White and Crawford also lead the team in rebounding averaging 5.9 per game.
 
Butler continues his assault on reaching the 1,000 career point's milestone.  His 10 points against Alcorn got him to 993 points, needing only seven against Southern to reach the number.
 
Southern will enter Dunn-Oliver with a very solid team, led by Beltran's 12.4 points per game.  Doggett is averaging 11.9 points and leads the SWAC with a 7.9 rebound per game average.  Jameel Grace averages 10.4 points per game.
 
“Southern pushes the ball up the court and we have to get prepared for that,” Jackson stated.  “I told the guys the last time we played them we did not have an inside presence and they were able to get a rebound and get out on the break and get into their transition.  Hopefully we will be a little better Monday night.”